Summary

WorldRemit’s customers will now send money globally through the mobile phone in five steps that do not require entering credit card information and other personal details to pay bills directly without Internet connectivity.

The London-based fintech now becomes the first remittance provider to add Android Pay directly to its global service.

WorldRemit’s customers will now send money globally through the mobile phone in five steps that do not require entering credit card information and other personal details to pay bills directly without Internet connectivity.

“Currently 60 per cent of WorldRemit app users are on Android, which is also by far the most popular mobile operating system in the developing world, where two billion people are still unbanked, but critically half a billion use their mobiles as a bank account,” said WorldRemit vice president of product Alice Newton-Rex.

“This integration with Android Pay is the next logical step of our mobile first approach, and continues our commitment to providing greater financial inclusion.’’

The London-based fintech now becomes the first remittance provider to add Android Pay directly to its global service.

“We want to make it easier for organisations like WorldRemit to offer a simpler, faster in-app payment solution for their customers. With Android Pay, people will be able to speed through checkout with their Android phones in a few clicks,” said Pali Bhat, director, product management at Google.

The money remittance provider recently opened its second office in Nairobi after Zimbabwe to boost intra-African remittances.

The firm has so far signed a deal with Safaricom’s #ticker:SCOM M-Pesa and with Kenya Commercial Bank #ticker:KCB a partnership that enables real-time transfers from diaspora to Kenya and five other countries in the East Africa region.

Sending money within the continent is complicated. It costs more to send money to Africa than any other regions.

World Bank data shows that on average those sending money to the region will cough up nearly 10 per cent the value of a transfer.